The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1887-05-05
OUR SPLENDID GIRLS.
Hohs I az YOUNG MEN OF THE DAY
oMPARE WITH THEM.

Up and Down Fifth Avenue-A Mag
nifcent Specimen of American Woman
hood-The Slim, Thin Faced, lettering
Figure of Dude-Athletics.
Some Sunday afternoon, take a walk
up Fifth avenue and then down again.
Make it the afternoon. At noon, when
the church goers have just been released
from church, the pavement is SO crowded
that you see no more than moving mass
of colors, which bewilders the eye and
overwhelms the perceptions. You will
see hundred people you know on the way
up and another hundred on the way down.
And they come along in convenient
struggling procession so that you can nod
to them if you have a nodding acquaint-
ance, OF stop to shake hands if the rela-
tons existing are little closer and more
friendly.
Gen. Sherman, Tom Ochiltree, Addison
Cammack, Kyrle Bellew, the Hon. Will
liam f. Cody, the Marquis de Mores, Larry
Jerome are interesting, to be sure, and
suggest reflections of all shades, grave and
gay, but this magnificent looking girl who
swings along at a four mile gait is not
only subject for reflection, she is a theme
for admiration, for congratulation, for
tenderness, and the sight of her sends ten
thousand new impulses through the mind
and heart.
This is American womanhood.
Not the American womanhood of Wash
ington Irving's day, when fiimsy dresses
were in style, which were dampened at
night to make them cling closely to the
form, and when shoes with paper soles
were in general favor, and the donning of
them was as good as a cordial invitation
to the pneumonia. No; those were the
days, not only of meagre brains, but of
diseased and dyspeptic stomachs, hesitat-
| ing hearts, pinched cheeks and fragile
| limbs. American womanhood of the past
was ghost.
A GLORIOUS SIGHT.
This is the American womanhood of to-
| day, and even more truly of the future,
| heaven be praised! Look at the rosy
cheeks, the sparkling eyes, the shoulders
| thrown back, the firm and certain step.
Notice how well nourished the cheeks are,
how deep and true the inspirations, and
how plump and well rounded the arms
which taper down to the well gloved
hands. Is it not glorious sight? There
| is no chance for paper soled shoes here.
1
| cover the handsome, muscular feet, and
in place of the tawdry costume whose
likeness is preserved for us by dozens of
old engravings, here we have a neat and
well made cloth suit, which fits the own
er's form to perfection. Can anything be
| more satisfactory TO the eye than this
pictur. of honest health, of alert though
not perhaps of subtle intelligence and
| womanly beautya There may be no sug.
gestiOn of sentimentality here, nothing OF
what everyday novelists call poetry, and
there is no romantic melancholy, but,
without any sacrifice of womanliness,
there is grace, and, above all, there arc
| life and strength.
But what is this? What is this slim,
puny, thin faced, toddling, lettering little
figure who emphasizes by sheer force OF
contrast the strength and the color of this
girl with the greyhound-like movement
Well, it's American manhood, or, per-
haps, to be exactly just, it is one aspect OF
It. No, that cane is not so heavy as II
looks. If it were SO, this example OF
! American manhood could not carry it. II
he took his gloves off, you would see &
couple of heavy gold rings putting tt
shame the attenuation of his fingers. Hi:
| hat, as you see, threatens to eXtinguisf
him. The cape of his Ovcrcoat over his
narrow shoulders looks like the cape O.
| Good Hope. Compare his dull, weary
eyes with the sparlllers which blaze il
the girls head. Compare their cheek!
| without putting them together. Look a
his mincing toddle and look at her stride
Compare their figures. But there is III
comparison. They cannot be compared
| any more than can wine and water, or thu
| pale and sickly moon that fronts TIN
| dawn with the respondent queen of night
But" you ask, "what about these ath
| letic clubs whereof we hear SO much
| How is it that they do not serve to built
| up these sickly forms? The gymnasium'
| are resorted TO- Athletics are the fash
ion."
THE INSIDE FACTS.
ALI this is true, but only true in part
The gymnasiums are resorted to, but YER!
| much as the theatres are. The youth o
| the day goes to see others exercise just a
! he goes to see others act OH the stage. Al
| matter of theory, he knows great dea
more about jumping and running, wrest
ling and boxing than the youth of 10 or 4
| years ago did. He is learned in Technical
terms and is educated as a critic, but as
| performer he is nowhere. His enthusiasm
| for the athletics is the enthusiasm which
arranges and supports private sluggin!
matches. He pays SIS apiece for them
And when he expresses disappointment
that the mill has not been lively enough
the slugger replies:
II know what youse young Teller.
want. Yer want blood, and yer cam
have blood for less than $50"
This is the kind of enthusiasm fol
athletics which is rampant. 1t is the kint
which prompts the youth with no ches
and legs to stay up all night and pay So;
to discover ut dawn the next morning
thirty or forty miles away from his warn
little bed, that the great fight between
Jack and Jill for 5000 a side will MOI
take place, information which he can buy
with his evening paper for two cents
And It is this enthusiasm which keeps the
membership of the athletic clubs up t.
high figures. But out of every hundred
members about five use the appliances in
the gymnasium and Dinety-five watch
them do it'll. S. Hewitt in New York
Mail and Express.